Entertainment

Get sucked into our 12 favorite fake TV cults

On Wednesday, Hulu premieres The Path — a drama that revolves around members of a mysterious religion-slash-commune known as Meyerism.

The movement is definitely creepy. But it's also in good TV company: Shows that run the gamut from Mad Men to Boy Meets World have experimented with cult storylines, for better and for worse ("THIS is a hug, Shawn!!!"). Here are 12 of our favorites.

Best TV cults

Boy Meets World, "Cult Fiction"

Season 4 was mostly classic Boy Meets World fluff -- until Shawn lost all direction and joined a mysterious group of hug-happy people under the leadership of the oily Mr. Mack. Everyone in Shawn's life is wary of "the Center" and worried for his safety, but he doesn't snap out of it until Jonathan Turner winds up in a coma. Rider Strong gives an emotional speech to God...and Mr. Turner is not heard from again until 2015.

Chip 'n Dale, "The Case of the Cola Cult"

The Rangers come into contact with the Cola Cult, a group of mice who worship soda and whose leaders steal all the members' donations. Really.

The Simpsons, "The Joy of Sect"

In Season 9, the Movementarians take over Springfield, brainwashing Homer and convincing him to move his family into the cult's quarters. The Movementarians believe in "The Leader," a mysterious being who will eventually take them to the planet Blisstonia and eternal happiness.

Mad Men, "The Monolith"

A young and newlywed Margaret Sterling leaves her home and husband to live on a commune, and also changedsher name to Marigold. Roger is almost cool with it -- until a fellow member solicits Marigold for sex, and he decides it's time she leave. But Roger ends up leaving her there, which probably doesn't surprise Margaret/Marigold one bit.

Monk, "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult"

Monk goes undercover with the Siblings of the Sun, suspicious that the cult's leader may be involved in a recent murder case. He starts to drink the Kool-Aid too, particularly when served by that leader -- The Father, played by Howie Mandel. In the end, only solving a case can bring back the Monk we know.

Pierce Hawthorne's alternative to religion is introduced and explained throughout the series. It includes tenets like a Buddha bong, different levels of ascension (including stages of mind-reading and seeing the color "blurple") and vaporized corpses.

Image: NBC

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Covenant"

Gul Dukat forms -- or at least thinks he formed -- this doomsday cult, which worships the evil Pah-Wraiths. Gul Dukat tries to spin this iteration of the Bajorian religion in his favor, but is ultimately exposed as a fraud.

Image: Paramount

Orphan Black

The endlessly creepy Proletheans, who recur throughout the series, blur the lines between science and religion -- believing that the former should only be done in service of the latter. The cult actively engages in abduction, rape and artificial insemination, all in the name of God's science.

Image: BBC America

The X-Files, "Roadrunners"

Many cults appeared in The X-Files, including spirit-possessed vegetarians and your garden variety Doomsday suicide pact. But perhaps the most memorable was found by Scully in this Season 8 episode: a group who believes that a parasitic slug is the second coming of Christ.

Image: FOX

The X-Files, "Patient X"

And then there's this one, where the agents meet Cassandra Spender, the leader of a UFO cult whose members hope to be abducted by aliens. It's a looser interpretation of cult philosophy that recurs throughout the series.

Image: FOX

Veronica Mars, "Drinking the Kool-Aid"

Keith and Veronica investigate the Moon Calf Collective, a cult that has drawn in their clients' son Casey. It's disguised as a literary collective (Casey's having an affair with an English teacher), but features cult hallmarks like farm animals, polygamy and a "cash crop" -- which turns out to be flowers. Keith dismisses the case, but not before Veronica begins to feel sympathy for the Collective -- and Casey's parents kidnap him back into their custody.

Image: Warner Bros.

Lost

Though The Others are never referred to as a cult -- possibly because they're the dominant society on the Island -- the Others worship a mysterious deity (Jacob), follow a questionable leader (Benjamin Linus) and live in a compound until that pesky plane crash. There's also the matter of kidnapping and experimenting on pregnant woman...and let's not even talk about the Temple in Season 6.

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